Look out Maine and New Hampshire, and North and South Carolina, they'll be comin' for your lithium when they come

 The Appalachian Mountains hold enough lithium to make 500 billion cellphones, researchers discover: Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the ancient Appalachians mountain system holds 2.5 million tons of the critical element lithium

 

... Mining these deposits would involve opening giant pits and destroying wildlife habitats, affecting the landscape and regional biodiversity. It would also create harmful pollution due to waste products such as fluids and finely ground rock that can leach trace elements into the ground and waterways. Additionally, the heavy machinery that would be required for hard-rock mining in the Appalachians would pump huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and extracting lithium from those rocks would involve toxic chemicals and more greenhouse gas emissions.